New on the Job

In the world enshrouded by shadows, Zephyr awoke from an agonizing scream that would send chills down any normal person’s spine. It was filled with horror and despair. As was normal here, no light beamed through her window to signal the start of a new day, only the screams of tortured and the doomed informed the inhabitants of the new day. Zephyr stretched in her bunk and yawned sleepily, glaring out the window into the darkness. Brushing teeth was unnecessary. Combing hair too; nobody cared how well, or unwell you looked in these cursed lands. So, they didn’t bother wasting time with such activities and headed straight for the wardrobe to get dressed. Inside, an imp was chewing on their blouse. Zephyr sighed and reached for the creature. The creature shrieked and recoiled, pressing its back against the wall, and as the hand got ever closer, it lashed out with its razor-sharp claws. Imps are small, and mostly harmless, but as any demonic creature, they will fight tooth and claw to death no matter their opponent. Though usually they opt to avoid encounters and fly away, but in this case, it felt cornered, and it was in fact, cornered.

As the sharp claws were about to reach Zephyr’s soft and tender skin, the creature froze from fear. Its gaze fixated on something behind Zephyr. Sleepy Zephyr glanced over their shoulder to see nothing, and then in a swift gesture they grabbed the creature by the neck and in a perfectly calculated motion, tossed it out through the window. The intern’s voice, that Zephyr did not hear, pierced the imp’s ears.

“AND DARE NOT TOUCH THE ONE I CHOSE.”

Zephyr grabbed the chewed and torn-up blouse and let out an annoyed sigh.

“My favorite too… damned bastard imp, I’ll wreck their nest later.”

Zephyr angrily murmured under their breath, once more throwing a glance over her shoulder to see nothing behind.

“Strange… maybe not strange.”

Another sleepy yawn and then a mumble later after tossing on a hoodie.

“Tailor it is….”

Zephyr stepped through the door into a world of agony. The very street beneath their boots was blood-stained and bubbling. The stones screamed at every step, but dared not protest the higher being. The sky above was barely visible even to a creature accustomed to the dark. Like an endless void that did not stare back, nor allowed any light to pierce it. The nature around existed of petrified beings of various species. Some humans, some demons, some angels, and some were unknown to Zephyr. Off to the side stood a tree shaped creature, with many tentacles, spread out like tree’s branches. They watched some younger creatures toss small mice-like creatures tied by their tails onto it. It reminded them of the human tradition of tying shoes together and throwing them on trees and power lines, a tradition that never made sense to Zephyr. She knew better than to mingle with the demon-folk, they hardly managed to bear each other vegetating in the same plane of existence, let alone enjoy interacting with one another.

“Shoes….”

Zephyr glanced down and wiggled their toes.

“Forgot mine….”

But it mattered not, the ground wouldn’t dare hurt Zephyr. She reached the tailor shop and felt something grasp her shoulder. Turning around to see absolutely nothing behind, she shuddered at the thought of a shadow being stalking them.

“DARE NOT TOUCH MY CHOSEN LEST YOU WISH TO DATE THEM! TELL ME! DO YOU DARE DATE MY CHOSEN?”

In a loud, commanding, growling tone, spoke a creature Zephyr could not see, to a lizard-like monstrosity that was pressed against the wall by its neck, squirming around, invisible to human eye. Before the lizard stood a 2-meter-tall giant draped in an armor of a death-bringer. Known in hells for their merciless personalities. They are, or rather – were, the most elite spirits on the battlefield. Second only to the deaths themselves, the spirits of death that took souls to the underlife. Where death takes the soul and brings serenity and peace of no longer being alive, a death-bringer brought with them the fear and despair. But the lizard’s gaze, while wandering the battle-scarred armor of the death-bringer before it, fell upon a small metallic crest in a shape of a bow, loaded with a heart-tipped arrow.

“C… cupid?”

The lizard struggled through the choking grasp.

“I AM AN INTERN! WILL YOU DATE MY CHOSEN??”

The lizard’s eyes shot wide open as it stared in disbelief.

“I heard things were bad but to think they were this bad… Anyway, no, I have no interest in fallen humans….”

The lizard replied calmly, phasing through the grasp that choked it prior.

“Do… be less intimidating I suggest and drop the death-bringer act. It won’t help with the new job.”

The shadow demon replied, slithering away.

“Best of luuuck.”

This perplexed the death-bringer, and he remained silent for a while, wondering how to better encourage people to date his chosen one. Zephyr entered the tailor’s shop and glanced around. It was pleasantly familiar and unchanged from the last time they visited. Behind a sewing machine off in the corner, under a bright light that barely illuminated anything, sat a humanoid creature, the tailor that Zephyr desired. They approached the tailor carefully.

“Greetings, be with you in just a….” the tailor’s voice trailed off into a mumbling incoherent mess while she focused on the task at hand. Zephyr took the time to stroll around the shop, and their guardian that was unknown to them, took that time to reflect on the lizard’s words….

‘BE LESS IN… intimi-DATING!!!’ His thoughts shouted at him, and for a moment, Zephyr thought they heard a voice ring in their head, shouting ‘DATING’.

“Sooo, how may I heaaaaaahhh….”

The tailor began and instantly froze from fear, staring at the death-bringer behind her new customer. Zephyr once more glanced over their shoulder, seeing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

“FEAR NO… fear…NOT!”

The death-bringer struggled to control his old habits of always shouting intimidatingly.

“I AM AN… In…intern….”

His voice, when not shouting, was mellow and soft. Each time his voice broke into the soft and gentle whisper that resembled the ocean’s breeze, gently caressing the ears of listeners, the tailor smiled, and then the time stood still. The intern stepped through Zephyr who was frozen in time, and then bowed down to look into the tailor’s eyes. His glowing embers that recessed deeply in the abyssal void that was hidden by his helmet, turned a softer yellow.

“Say… miss.. would you consider….”

The tailor’s eyes, for once, were a match to her hairstyle. The gravity defying, disorganized, electric-shock looking hair that stood in all directions unevenly. Half of it pointed to the right and the other half straight up. Resembling a mad scientist whose experiment had gone surpassingly wrong.

“DATING THEM?”

The intern shouted once more and then coughed.

“Ahem.. I mean…dating…. My.. CHOSEN ONE!?”

She stared in disbelief,.

“Is that what all death-bringers sound like when not acting scary?”

She inquired, memories of the horror bed-time stories flooding her mind, how terrifying and merciless the death-bringers were in the old days.

“No… yes… I DO NOT KNOW! WE ALWAYS SPOKE LIKE THIS!”

His old habits took over, and the color of the glowing embers for his eyes turned darker, almost red, like heated metal.

“I… s-see….”

Whimpered the terrified tailor, struggling to hold back the body’s desire to run away.

“WILL YOU?”

The tailor blinked, fear-struck and unable to speak.

“Uh….”

“Oh… s..sorry… will you date my chosen one? Please? Consider this fine specimen.”

The two meter giant in heavy armor stepped through Zephyr who was still frozen in time and gestured with hand in presenting manner.

“Not very tall, NOT AT ALL INTIMIDATING! Ahem… but good at throwing imps.”

He concluded with an awkward thumbs-up that unfroze the time.

Zephyr tilted their head to the side and blinked at the shocked looking tailor, literally at that, considering the hair.

“Miss….”

Zephyr inquired. The tailor slowly turned her head to face the hoodie wearing human before her. They were about the same height.

“Maybe…?”

She whispered softly, inspecting Zephyr’s facial features. The look of confusion on Zephyr’s face was intriguing.

“Say, how long have you known your friend?”

“Friend?”

Zephyr asked, confused while looking over their shoulder.

“What friend? I’m… a fairly new arrival here and haven’t made many…” their voice trailed off.

“Any….”

The tailor smirked softly.

“I see… How about.”

Her gaze darted to an object on a wall that vaguely resembled a clock, except it didn’t show time in ticks, rather, it was a spiral that was slowly unwinding. Judging by the location of the pointer at the spiral’s circle, it appeared to be roughly mid-day, the point at which time began to slow.

“How about a screamo? I could go for a drink.”

She suggested. Zephyr glared at her, confusion obvious on their face.

“Ahmm… why? Sounds like a waste of time. And besides, I’m not into shocked-looking ladies. Perhaps you should do something about your hair first.”

They suggested in a neutral, disinterested tone. The tailor gasped but remained silent. The awkward silence came to and end when the tailor at last managed to utter.

“So… What brings you here today?”

Zephyr pointed at a blouse that resembled the one they had at home, that got torn and chewed up by an imp.

“One of those, to my size and preference.”

The tailor pulled out a sketch book and presented it to Zephyr.

“Envision your preferences.”

A moment later, a sketch appeared on the blank page, resembling perfectly what Zephyr envisioned.

“Very well, come back in three screams, I’ll have it done.”

Before Zephyr took their leave, a voice whispered into the tailor’s ears.

“I uh… sorry miss, I’m still learning, and this one has peculiar tastes it seems.”

Zephyr headed for the grocery store to get some food. Despite it being the cursed in-between, beings here still needed sustenance. The time came to a halt once more.

“Pardon, hey, excuse me, can you, hello?”

The intern waved his gauntlet-armored hand in front of a man in surprisingly vibrantly colored clothes, and two magnificent, thick, silvery horns that protruded from his forehead. His crimson skin resembled blood of enemies, bringing back pleasant memories from the intern’s past. His shirt was pink, and pants were neon-green.

“STOP IGNORING ME!”

The intern snapped, knowing full well that the creature was just pretending not to see him. The man recoiled and stumbled backwards; his heel got caught on a cheeky stone of the street that jumped out in a desperate attempt to catch an innocent pedestrian. He lost his balance and almost fell, but in a swift motion of his tail that he curled up like a spring, he pushed himself back up and sneered.

“Wha? Me!? You’re talking to me? What a blast! A BLAST FROM MY PAST! Only one of your kind ever spoke to me before, that was when I was a bard… Millenia, no, three millenia and two centuries ago….”

He closed his eyes remembering.

“I was a bard on the battlefield, singing and swaying, and dodging the endless stream of arrows, all of which were seemingly aimed at meeeee! From both sides.”

He paused, pondering over his memories.

“Am I remembering that right?”

“I DO NOT KNOW.”

The intern shouted.

“Yes! They were in fact. And then that fateful night, I decided to become something new. Barding was far too dangerous so I leaned down and grabbed a sword of a death-bringer.”

The intern’s glowing eyes shifted color to purple’ish flames.

“YOU DID NOT!”

“Correct. The death-bringer came back to life just to deny me the pleasure. Ah… what glorious days those were. The days of bloodshed and… death-bringers don’t bleed.”

The intern formed a fist, trying desperately to hold back from doing the unthinkable.

“Do you know what I became when death-bringers denied me? I became a wizard, a traveling wizard, want to see a magic trick?”

“NOT PARTICULARLY.”

“Ah good! Allow me to demonstrate it for you, now you see this coin…” he pulled out a coin and showed it to the death-bringer.

“AND NOW. YOU DON’T.”

The death-bringer swatted the demon away with a swift flick of his wrist, likely sending him through the barrier into a whole another plane of existence, only the coin remained.

Zephyr heard a gentle metallic clank, noticing a coin spinning on the ground. They bent down and grabbed it, and stared in confusion at the coin sides, which continued to change. always showing the side that Zephyr was thinking. ‘heads’ showed a skull. ‘Tails’ showed a chimera’s scorpion-like tail.

“Hah, could put on some magic shows with this.”

Zephyr remarked with a minor hint of enthusiasm. The store had two departments. There was the ‘dimension travel’ department, and the normal section. The dimension travel was more fun, as it opened a portal to a random store, at a random time, in a random place, and also in a random universe. One traveling through would appear normal to those on the other side. Zephyr, after glancing at the portal, eagerly walked through. It showed an Eastern-style shop. Of course, world travel wasn’t quite so simple, and had a single downside. Those who fell and ended up in-between were bound to the in-between and were unable to escape. Once away for an hour the abyss would pull them back into the world that was void of light, and there was no way to escape. Zephyr knew this, since every new-arrival’s first thought is ‘what do you mean I can escape this place by simply going to the store? I got to try this.’ They walked through the portal into an Asian themed store. A woman in kimono behind the counter blinked once in disbelief at suddenly two new customers that seemingly appeared out of thin air, but merely bowed gently to them and returned her attention to the customers in line. Zephyr looked around after noticing the worker making eye-contact with seemingly 2 people, saw nobody else around, but returned to shopping.

Once the line cleared up a tall man that towered over the worker girl, approached her with a shy grin.

“Hi miss uhm, I am an intern you see, agh, no matter. That one over there, that, there.”

He pointed with his finger at the shape of Zephyr that kept appearing and disappearing between the aisles of the convenience store.

“That’s a good one. A fine specimen, exceptional imp-throwing skills. Fearless. Uhm….”

He paused, reading the confused face of the employee that was staring blankly at him.

“Perhaps… um… what kind of people do you like?”

He asked.

The employee smiled wearily.

“Konichiwa… are you buying anything?”

She inquired cautiously, ignoring the question asked. He glanced around at the writings on packages in a language he couldn’t understand.

“I’ll have… that…” he pointed at a heart-shaped lollipop. After making the purchase, he disappeared behind the shelves.

Reappearing only when Zephyr, upon exiting the store, bumped into a random young man. A quick snap paused the time. The Intern sneakily placed the heart shaped lollipop in the hand of Zephyr, that hovered right in front of the stranger’s face, as they reached out in a friendly gesture, offering a helping hand to someone they knocked over. Another snap, the time was back. Zephyr stared confused at the lollipop. The stranger that sat on his butt also stared at it.

“Weird way to ask on a date.”

The stranger commented, slapping Zephyr’s hand away.

The intern paused the time once more.

“Hey hey hey! Let’s not be hasty! Look look, such magnificence stands before you. Lightly used. Gentle wear-and-tear here and there. Shaggy clothes, disheveled hair, surely a fine gentleman can overlook such imperfections, yes? Sure yes this one is locked to darkness-cursed lands in a realm far beyond your imagination but ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?”

The man pressed himself against the wall. Warmth ran down his legs.

“USELESS!”

The intern remarked, returning the time into normal flow once more. Zephyr stared at the man that was suddenly up and pressed against the wall, with wet pants.

“Date…? As if I’d ever waste my time on a maggot that pisses himself from a mere lollipop.”

The man opened his mouth to protest, but a gasp followed when he noticed the towering giant behind the hooded figure behind him.

Once back in the cursed lands, Zephyr stopped by a café for a cup of steaming hot impiss, a unique drink that was, contrary to its name, not made from any kinds of bodily fluids of an imp, it merely resembled them in color. Suddenly a succubus sat down across the table from Zephyr and leaned on her hand with a smirk.

“Well hellloooww there lonely traveler.”

Zephyr glanced up from their cup.

“I asked not for escort.”

“Oh darling, I’m here not with such silly ideas… You just caught my eyes.”

Zephyr rolled eyes, taking another sip.

“And here I thought foot….”

“Hmm?” the succubus replied in a seductive half moan.

“Your tail… is wrapped around my foot… could you not? It’s hot….”

The succubus bit her lip.

“OH I know….”

“NO, as in… It’s sizzling my skin.”

The succubus recoiled, instantly unwrapping her tail and bringing it up to peek over the table.

“Oh my oh dear you humans are so fragile.”

Zephyr shrugged.

“At least we know about personal boundaries, and you’re crossing mine.”

They threw an angry glare at the unwelcome company.

“Fine… sheesh… your friend said you might desire some company….”

“What FRIEND???”

Zephyr inquired in confusion, but her question was ignored by the dissatisfied succubus that stormed off. Once back at home after a couple more strange encounters, Zephyr decided that it was shower time.

A small imp-like creature with a bow, and some wings, popped into existence out of a bubble next to the intern.

“He-hey. You-hoo! How goes the day?”

The intern glared at the creature. A golden, shining crest of a bow with a heart-tipped arrow decorated its chest.

“MENTOR!” he coughed.

“Ahem, I mean, mentor, hey, boss uhm.. hey….”

“He-hey! So? Is your chosen in love yet?”

The intern shuddered.

“N… no not yet… my chosen has… preferences.”

The mentor cupid with a golden crest glanced at Zephyr who took the shirt off, revealing a fine-toned human female body.

“And what DO they prefer?”

The intern glanced over his shoulder.

“I… did not ask.”

“Gah… useless intern.”

The imp-like creature shook its head.

“I’ll ask.”

“But… mentor….”

The creature paused, fluttering its wings.

“Hmm? It’s no easy task for an intern to pass this entry exam. Trust me, we all had to go through it. Some have it easier, others get quite the tough nut to crack.”

The intern nodded.

“Sorry, mentor.”

Zephyr watched her reflection turn blurry, and then slowly fade away as the mirror before them fogged up. A finger-written text appeared on the foggy mirror.

“What are your preferences.”

The intern glanced at his mentor writing the question on the mirror.

“Oh great, a bloody mimic? A damned vengeful spirit possession? Which is it?”

Zephyr inquired, fist clenched, ready to smash the mirror to bits.

“Neither. A curious, watcher….”

The mentor cupid hesitantly wrote.

“So, a pervert….”

Zephyr replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“Preferences? Home, light of day, warm sun tickling my skin, what more do you want from me…? Not being in these blasted cursed lands is what I prefer….”

The mentor cupid remained silent for a while, and then wrote again.

“Romantic preferences.”

The intern walked up behind her, ever more curious about her response, listening carefully as she read the question once more.

“Romantic…” she snorted.

“Hah… what are you? A cupid or something? Hah… Here I am, talking to a mirror. Delightful. Romantic… Who doesn’t dream of being a princess in a tower? Locked away to be rescued by a knight in shining armor? Strong and gnarly… Kicks the door in.”

She continued replying in a dreamy tone.

“Comes up to the bed, I scream ‘no get away from me, who are you?’ He ignores and picks me up, then stands there in silence, staring at me. As I reach and pull his helmet off, a gentle face and a warm smile is revealed….”

She continued and then began to chuckle.

“Or you know, just a tall man that towers over me, presses me against the wall and kisses me, then whispers how he loves me for who I am… Edgy and bulky… in armor though, with a big sword and a deep intimidating voice….”

She burst into laughter.

“So, who’s asking?”

The intern glanced at his mentor and then the shroud that made him invisible disappeared. Revealing him, standing in the bathroom of Zephyr’s home. Towering above her. His glowing embers were a soft pastel yellow.

“I AM!”

He replied in an intimidating tone. Zephyr glanced at the tall man in heavy armor and then sneered.

“Lovely. A stalker that fits my preferences, in my bathroom… GET OUT!”

“I… should….”

He replied, shamefully exiting through the door.

What happened later, shall remain enshrouded in the darkness and mystery of the in-between.